Maybe This is Not The End
by Climmy
Summary: Voldemort has defeated Harry but will a old prophecy concerning Ron and Hermione change the course of time? RWHG and plenty of AU action.
1. Default Chapter

I don't own Harry Potter (what else is new?) and yeah…that's about it. Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 1: Absent Hope

Hermione pulled away from the haggard looking group and sat down in a corner with her tattered diary. She always held this diary in her pocket (it helped her to record her ideas when they came to her at the most random of times) along with a muggle pen. She sighed and looked over at Ron who was talking in a low, whispering voice to Neville. Neville shook his head profusely, his lip trembling slightly.

Remus Lupin unrolled a piece of parchment, pointing out certain spots on it with his gnarled hand. Professor Flitwick was talking in his squeaky voice and pointing out suggestions. Hermione did not want to know what they were discussing. It was hopeless now. She opened her diary and began to write:

Diary,

I can understand anything I put my mind to. I've always been the top of my class. I could tell you anything you ever wanted to know about Alabar Fletcher, Hogwarts castle, or even the properties of a moon root. Diary, I don't know what to do now. Harry is dead.

Death…perhaps I do not understand everything. In the great epics, Good _always_ triumphs over Evil. Yes, sometimes the hero may die but the Evil does not live on. Voldemort lives on…does this mean that all the Good in the world will be wiped out? Are not flowers, sunsets, or even people all good? How will they co-exist in a world where Evil now has the upper hand? Ron said that no matter what, we would get through this together. Will Evil kill Ron? How are we still living?

Truthfully, Diary, I do not see how Ron can have hope. Harry is dead…maybe that fact has not sunk into Ron yet. Maybe when he realizes it, he'll go into hysterics and become crazy like I have.

I can't tell you where we are hiding right now, Diary. The location is currently secure but we all know, though we do not choose to voice it, that we cannot stay here long. There is not much for us to do except wait for Evil to conquer us.

I dread the moment when the truth will hit me.

Hermione

She sighed as she looked at her short entry, profusely wishing it could be about _anything_ else but this. She could even settle for an entry over what kind of shade of lip-gloss she was going to wear tomorrow. Slowly shutting her book, she walked over to the table where the parchment was spread out. Lupin looked up at her and smiled faintly, the smile clashing with his weathered, tired face.

"You're just the witch we've been looking for," he said, his eyes shining faintly.

Hermione tried to return the smile, but it was not convincing. Ron looked over at her, a worried frown creasing his forehead.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"First I want you to get some rest," he said, concern etching in his voice. "And everyone else should too." He looked pointedly at the other ten people in the room.

Hermione nodded her head, ignoring his comment. "What have all of you been discussing."

Professor Flitwick pointed his wand at the parchment and muttered a few words under his breath. Suddenly, feathery writing spread out on the map and revealed an ecliptic code. Hermione curiously stared down at the parchment.

"We think it's a prophecy," Ron said quietly. "But we have to translate it first."

"Wow," Hermione murmured under her breath. "Where did you find this?"

"It was in the Department of Mysteries," Lupin said. He did not sound like he wanted to tell how an important document managed to be removed from a secure ministry location.

"But we don't know how to translate it," Ron cut in.

"So you want me to translate it?" she asked softly.

No one replied. They just all stared silently at the prophecy lying before them. Lupin sighed and rolled the parchment back up. He bid them all to get some rest because they would be leaving again soon. Hermione yawned but her eyes still flitted over the parchment in Lupin's hand. She looked over at Ron, whose weary eyes were also staring hard at the prophecy. He looked up suddenly at her and smiled dimly.

"G'night," he whispered hoarsely.

That night Hermione was so tired that she slept dreamlessly, hoping never to wake up again.

Authors Note:

Did you like it? There's going to be Ron/Hermione in a few chapters coming soon along with the prophecy being revealed. Feel free to leave any suggestions for the story!

Climmy


	2. More Secrets to Come

Authors Note:

School's almost over so I'll be updating A LOT more! I don't own Harry Potter…so yeah….

suckr4romance: Thanks! They'll be translating the prophecy soon and I hope it'll be a good plot twist for you to enjoy!

DaggerQuill: Your words are actually what inspired me to write this next chapter!

AmieAM: I hope you like this new chapter! Thanks for being the first to review!

Chapter Two: More Secrets to Come

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night, but she felt very refreshed. Her mind seemed more aware, and the world was a lot clearer. She yawned and winced as her arm throbbed suddenly. It had been healed by magic but there was still a phantom-like feeling in her arm. She remembered suddenly how the wound had been administered:

_People were running in every direction, trying to fend off the deatheaters. Hermione had not seen Dumbledore since Voldemort's arrival merely an hour ago. They had been warned but not soon enough to remove everyone to safety. The younger students were barricaded in caverns under the castle while the professors and older students were fighting, desperately hoping that reinforcements from somewhere would arrive. The Order and the Ministry were not responding very quickly…_

_A bright light flashed as the Forbidden Forest began to erupt in flames. Hermione ran towards the castle, searching for Harry. _

_"Noceo!" A death eater suddenly screamed, directing his wand at her. Hermione lunged to the side, the curse grazing her arm. She screamed but kept running, though her eyes were blurring. She had to warn Harry…where was he…_

_Hermione fervently wished that Voldemort had not found him yet._

_The more she ran, the more her arm seared and throbbed. She screamed suddenly when someone grabbed it._

_"SHH! It's just me," Justin Finch-Fletchley_ _hissed._

_"Where's Harry? Where's Ron? Have you seen them?" she asked frantically._

_Justin did not reply nor did he let go of her arms._

"Justin?" she asked slowly, her voice quavering. Justin's grip tightened and Hermione knew something was wrong.

"_Do it!" a voice yelled from behind Justin._

_Hermione suddenly realized that he was under the Imperius curse. He suddenly screamed in protest but then quickly put his wand to Hermione's throat._

She looked down at the wand, trying to judge how quickly she could get to her wand and how quickly he could blow her to smithereens.

"Mortara!" a voice suddenly yelled. There was a flash of yellow light and then Justin quickly let go of Hermione.

"_Imperius curse," he gasped._

_"Hermione!" Ron said in relief, as he stepped over the death eater._

_"Where's Harry?" they both asked each other in unison._

_"He was with Voldemort by the whomping willow," Justin said quickly._

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances before taking off at a sprint to get to Harry.

_A flash of red gleamed in the sky and Hermione's arm burned in response. She ignored it, however, and kept running to Harry._

Ron woke up tangled in his sleeping bag as Harry's last words kept burning in his head:

_"Ron," Harry panted as he ran his hand through his sweat-drenched hair. "I heard Voldemort."_

_"Harry, calm down," Ron replied, not much calmer._

_"You and Hermione can't be anywhere near us when we fight."_

_"What are you-"_

_"If Voldemort gets you and Hermione then he can get it." Harry looked fervently around as another explosion rocked the castle. "It's time," he yelled, as he took off down the hall._

_"Get what? Harry?" Ron yelled and took off running after Harry._

_"Stay!" Harry yelled back just before another explosion caused the hallways between them to collapse. _

Ron looked around at the dark. He wondered to himself what Harry had been talking about. A pain shook his body when it hit him for the thousandth time that Harry was no longer here to answer that question.

Ron untangled himself from his sleeping bag and stood up, stretching slightly. Feeling thirsty, he walked to the end of the cave where the pool of pure cave water flowed softly.

"Lumos," he murmured so he could figure out which passageway to take. Entering the third passage, he quickened his pace, wanting water.

He stopped suddenly and pulled out his wand when he saw another figure sitting by the pool of water.

"Ron?" the figure said softly.

"Hermione," he croaked. "Bloody hell, get some sleep."

"I'm fine," she replied, handing him a cup with water. Ron quickly took it and gulped it down. She watched Ron drink the water, vividly remembering happier days at the breakfast table where she and Harry would watch Ron devour whole plates of sausages before the owls would come.

Ron wiped the water from is mouth and sat down in silence by Hermione. Neither of them was quite sure what to say, but they felt comfort being together in this lonely time.


	3. The Calm Before a Storm

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters…get over it

Authors Note: Sorry this chapters soooooo short. I'll try to get a longer one next time.

suckr4romance: it'll get a little less depressing after Ron and Hermione have had time to cope with Harry's death. I hope this chapter does not disappoint you!

violet snicket thanks for the encouragement! And, yes, I agree that Hermione and Ron are the perfect couple! I hope they eventually get together in the books!

The Calm Before a Storm

Hermione spent much of the next day pouring through three or four dusty volumes that Mad-Eye Moody had obtained. She had set Ron, Lupin and some others to work translating the prophecy while she tried to figure out the riddle behind it. She furrowed her brows at the odd wording of one of the lines.

"But that Love hath left only to come," she murmured over and over again under her breath. Why was "Love" capitalized? Harry had left them…so did that mean he was Love? But then again, how could he "come"? Yet, at the same time, he had the mark of love on him…

Hermione sighed and decided to come back to that line later.

"Lupin, Allabaster!" Mad-eye growled from across the cave. "Come here!"

Lupin and Allabaster wearily rose from the table, leaving Ron and Hermione momentarily alone.

Ron slammed a book shut and sighed exasperatedly. "What sort of a genius decided to write a book that periodically transforms into mirror-writing? It's like he wants you to get a stigmatism!"

Hermione smiled slightly, "How dare Ronald Weasley _ever_ have to research in his lifetime. I hope he can bare the pain of what he has tried to avoid for seven years."

Ron ignored her and looked over at Lupin, Allabaster, and Mad-eye. "They look like they're talking about something pretty important." Allabaster kept nodding his head fervently, and Lupin would periodically dig through his robe pocket as if looking for something.

Ron suddenly jumped up as the three of them left the entrance of the cave.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Mad-eye turned around, his eye acutely focusing on Ron's eyes, "Order business. Stay hidden and use your best judgement."

Ron nodded, slightly confused.

"Oh, and Ron," Mad-eye added.

"Yeah?"

"Constant vigilance over yourself and Hermione."

"Okay," he murmured as they abruptly left.

He sat down next to Hermione and looked around at the empty cave. The other three people were out staking traps and he and Hermione were well aware of how silent and ominous a large cave could seem.

"That was sudden," Hermione noted, flipping through a book entitled _How to Decipher Something You Probably Should have Given up On_ _Already_. Ron agreed and picked up another book to look through.

Ron's eyes began to blur from reading _Have Fun Deciphering This Book_ so he took to staring at Hermione instead. She looked tired. _Of course she looks tired_, Ron thought to himself, quickly trying to choke the images of the war that began to fill his brain.

"Get what, Har-?" Ron could not finish Harry's name as images of Harry yelling "if Voldemort gets you and Hermione then he can get it" ran through his head.

"Ron?" Hermione broke into his thoughts. "Are you crying?" she asked softly.

Ron blinked his watering eyes but shook his head. "I'm fine," he croaked.

Hermione quietly got up and sat down next to him on his side of the table. She stared at him through sad eyes but not without concern.

"Hermione?" Ron asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"Where do you think Harry is? I mean, is he really and truly gone or is he a ghost or something or…?"

"…I don't know," Hermione replied slowly, unaccustomed to saying those words.

She shyly and slowly began to put her arms around Ron to hug him. Before she could get arms completely around him, he pulled her against him into a hug.

"We're going to do this together, Hermione," Ron murmured into her ear.

Hermione nodded her head, listening to the steady beating of his heart.

Author's Note: The next chapter shall be longer and finally get to the action/adventure part of the genre. Tell me if you like it and I am one of those people who easily accepts criticisms with grace so feel free to tell me whatever about my writing and I won't flame you back or anything like that: )


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